by Izzet Inak

Created on: September 15, 2010

You step on the brake and the car is not slowing down; it sounds like those old movies where the bad guy cuts the brake fluid hose, unfortunately it is not, your brakes are not working somehow. Even the most experienced drivers panic when their brakes do not work and they panic at some level. But panic is the mother of all disasters when driving a car. Just because your brakes are not working do not mean that you won’t be able to stop your car. You actually can with the right moves.

First, let the other drivers know that your brakes are not working. There are not many ways that you can show it to the other drivers, the only way is to turn the emergency blinkers on.  If there is a car in front of you, use your horn or warn them with your high beam lights.

Do not continue driving on the left side of the road; try to pass to the right side carefully. Possibly one of the reasons that your brakes are failing might be pumping the brakes. Pumping the brakes is the enemy of the car’s brake system. Independent of a new or an old car, if you pump your brakes all the time, it will increase the amount of air in the brake system which is not good.

Engine brake is the friend of a driver that lost the brakes and a car that is going downhill. It is very hard for the cars with automatic transmission to apply engine brake (unless they have advanced Formula 1 style shifting) but the cars with manual transmission can easily apply engine brake. Shift into a lower gear and as the car slows down, continue shifting into lower gears till you are finally driving your car on the first gear.

Parking brake can be very useful and at the same time very dangerous in these kinds of situations. You have done everything and the car does not slow down, it is time to use the emergency brake slowly. Do not pull it very hard and do not release the button. Keep your finger on the button and gently raise the lever a little bit. If the car is slowing down, you can continue raising the lever. If you pull it very hard, it is very likely that your car will start sliding or roll over.

You have tried everything and nothing seems working. Try to find a car that cruises almost the same speed you are cruising with. Get very close to it and try to hit the bumper of it. As soon as you hit the bumper, the driver in the front will brake and you will slow down with him too. I have seen drivers that did this before and usually it is a very safe thing to practice unless the cars are going very fast (above 60mph).

If you have time, call the police. They can clear the way for you and assist you with the situation. If you know the city or the road very well, try to find a uphill road. As soon as you start climbing, your car will slow down gradually.

I really hope and pray that your brakes will never fail; it is not something nice to go through. But if you need to, just do your best to stay calm and try to realize the things that are written here.

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